BT fills in more of its UK broadband map

BT Retail chief executive Pierre Danon has promised that "regional partnerships" will drive broadband coverage to 90 per cent of the UK's population by this summer.

The partnerships with regional development agencies or other public sector partners are intended to deliver alternative access technologies such as radio broadband to remote areas, extending BT's broadband coverage.

The telco said it aims to create 20 community partnerships to bring radio broadband to areas where it considers digital subscriber line technology, usually offered in more urban areas, to be commercially unviable.

Trials of radio broadband have been running in Porthleven in Cornwall, Pwllheli in Wales, Ballingry in Scotland and Campsie in Northern Ireland.

BT estimates that radio broadband will be vital for connecting some of the 573 smallest exchanges (serving 100,000 households) for which no trigger level has been set, or areas more than 6km from their exchange.

And the telco has promised to invest around £22m by 2005 in the setting up of 35 public private partnerships across the UK.

Danon said BT was absolutely committed to connecting every UK community by 2005 and added that "this summer we will have reached 90 per cent coverage".

Addressing delegates at the Broadband Edge Conference in Cornwall, Danon highlighted the success of the 'actnow' partnership to bring broadband to the south west.

He said the uptake of broadband in rural Cornwall is now seven per cent, compared with five per cent in similar rural areas.

According to BT, the project has delivered 1,200 jobs and a £20m boost to regional GDP by adding a total of 14,500 broadband connections in 20 months - in an area which previously had low demand for ADSL.

The economic impact "demonstrated beyond argument" that bringing broadband to rural areas could have beneficial economic effects, added Danon.